Report on Sheaf-Binding Machinery at Shrewsbury. 71 
work which are difficult to chronicle. It is obvious that where 
the pitch of the finger-plate, the elevation and position of the 
collecting reel, the movable butting board, &c., are all capable 
of being adjusted by the driver to the ever-varying condition 
and position of the crop he is handling, and that, be it observed, 
without stopping the machine, it does not require much 
demonstration to show that much depends on the man who runs 
the machine for the kind of work that is turned off. It is not, 
however, at all times clear or safe to say, when faulty work is 
done, what share of the fault is due to the machine and what to 
the driver. 
After revising and comparing notes, the Judges agreed to 
recommend to the Stewards that all the machines which had 
been engaged in the wheat trials should be sent forward to the 
barley fields for further trial. 
Baeley Tbials, 
The field No. 6, as shown on the plan of Montford Farm, 
carried a good crop of barley after lea ; it was short in the straw, 
some of it was very ripe, but patches were not so ripe, which 
indicated variations in the soil, caused by the slight elevations 
over the surface of the field. Though there were some laid 
patches, some little hills and hollows, yet none of the plots 
presented any serious difficulties to the competing machines. 
The three machines to whose lot it fell to cut Plots 1, 2, 
and 3 were started in as quick succession as the avenues could 
be cleared for them, each machine being under the supervision 
of a Steward while at work. 
On Plot 1, Howard's machine, No. 29, when going the twenty- 
seventh round, broke down. The front end of the footboard 
broke off where the attachment for adjusting the height of cut 
by a lever is bolted on. The horses were unyoked. The 
Judges and Stewards agreed to put the machine out of com- 
petition, but, if repaired in time, the machine might finish its 
plot for report. After a delay of 1 hour 16 minutes, this 
machine resumed work and cut out the plot. 
The appended tabulated statement (Table IV., p. 72) is a 
condensation of the notes taken in this field of barley. 
On the conclusion of the trials in these two-acre plots of 
barley, it was resolved by the Stewards and Judges to retain 
eight machines for further trial. 
After the necessary balloting for plots was got through, the 
notice given on page 73 was posted at the Stewards' tent on 
Monday evening. 
